Associating presence information with a digital image

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and system for associating presence information with a digital image. Aspects of the preferred embodiment include allowing an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in the image to be stored as image metadata; using the identifier to associate presence information with the at least one object; and performing an action related to the object using the associated presence information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present invention is related to co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/884,395 entitled “Method and System for More PreciselyLinking Metadata and Digital Images,” (3204P/1249) filed on Jul. 2,2004, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application andherein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to digital images and image metadata, andmore particularly to a method and system for associating presenceinformation with a digital image.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One advantage of digital cameras over digital film based cameras is thatdigital cameras have the ability to store data along with a capturedimage that may later be accessed by a viewer. For example, once thedigital image has been transferred from the digital camera to a PC anddisplayed, a user may also view information about the image, such asdate and time of capture, the name of the image, and image size, forinstance. Typically, the data regarding a captured image is stored inmetadata within the image file of the captured image.

A conventional image file typically includes a header, image dataitself, and the metadata. The image file may optionally include athumbnail image and/or a reference to audio data. The header preferablyincludes information that identifies and describes the various contentsof image file. The image data contains actual captured image data, theresolution of which depends on the settings of the image capture device(e.g., camera, scanner, and the like). The image metadata stores varioustypes of data that correspond and relate to the image data. The imagemetadata may be populated by the image capture device at the time ofimage capture, or subsequent to image capture by a user when catalogingthe images.

The image metadata may comprise system metadata and user metadata.System metadata is typically populated by the image capture device andincludes various types of camera information that preserve commandsettings at the moment of capture and correlate with the captured imagedata. For example, system metadata may indicate focus setting, aperturesetting, and other relevant information that may be used for effectivelyprocessing or analyzing the corresponding image data. The data writtento the system metadata is controlled by the camera or scanner and cannotbe modified by the user.

The user metadata, in contrast, enables the storage of data that theuser enters on either a PC or on the image capture device. For example,most, if not all, images depict a scene that includes multiple objects(e.g., people, buildings, landmarks, nature, etc.). The user may wish toidentify these objects by entering metadata describing the objects.Image applications exist that enable the user to do so by entering thisinformation in text format. The text is then stored as user metadata andassociated with the image. When the image is subsequently displayedusing the same or a different image application, the metadata associatedwith the image is made available to the viewer. For example, themetadata may be displayed and/or printed as text along with the image.

Although the conventional metadata allows the user to more fullydescribe the objects appearing in the image, there are limitations tothe metadata. For instance, the metadata may not adequately describe theimage. In particular, if the metadata describes more than one objectdepicted in an image, the user often has a difficult time determiningwhich descriptions pertain to which object. For example, assume an imagedepicts two people and two houses, and the metadata identifies theindividual's names (e.g., Richard and Scott), as well as the houses(e.g., Richard's house and Scott's house) in the image. In this case, aviewer who does not know Richard or Scott may be unable to correlate thenames with the individuals and to the houses solely on the basis of themetadata that was provided in this example. The user who entered themetadata may be able to provide more specific metadata (e.g., Richard ison the left and Scott is on the right). However, this places a greaterburden on the user to enter more information and requires the user tomore carefully choose the terms used in the metadata.

In addition, while looking at a digital image taken in years past, itwould be beneficial to users who view the image to be reminded ornotified who (or what) is depicted in the image and whether or not theobject(s) in the image are available for communication. Existing imageapplications fail to provide this functionality.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a computer-implemented method and systemfor associating presence information with a digital image. Aspects ofthe preferred embodiment include allowing an identifier associated withat least one object depicted in the image to be stored as imagemetadata; using the identifier to associate presence information withthe at least one object; and performing an action related to the objectusing the associated presence information, including displaying thepresence information in association with the object when the image isviewed.

According to the method and system disclosed herein, by using anidentifier to associate presence information to a viewer in conjunctionwith the image and displaying the presence information with the image,the viewer is thereby informed who or what is depicted in the image andwhether or not the object(s) in the image are available forcommunication. If presence information includes status, then the vieweris informed whether the identified object is available for real-timecommunication. In a further embodiment, the action performed related tothe object may include opening a communication channel via acommunication address included in the presence information to initiate acommunication session with the identified object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for associating presenceinformation with objects depicted in a digital image in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for associating presenceinformation with a digital image in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an image with multiple identified objects, each havingassociated presence information where the presence information for eachobject is clearly indicated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to associating presence information withdigital images. The following description is presented to enable one ofordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is providedin the context of a patent application and its requirements. Variousmodifications to the preferred embodiments and the generic principlesand features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited tothe embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the principles and features described herein.

The present invention provides a method for associating presenceinformation with one or more objects depicted in a digital image. Thepresence information may then be used when the image is accessed toindicate not only who the people are (in the case where the objects arepeople), but also whether any of the people are available forcommunication, including real-time communication via chat or telephone,and/or non-real-time communication via e-mail or postage.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for associating presenceinformation with objects depicted in a digital image in accordance witha preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system 10 includesone or more computing devices 12 in communication with a presenceservice 16 and an optional photosharing site 18. The computing device12, which may be any electronic device, such as a camera phone,web-enabled digital camera, PDA, PC or photo kiosk, for example,includes a visual display device 24 and a network interface 32. Examplesof the display device 24 may include LCD, OLED, Plasma, or a projector,and examples types of network interfaces 32 include Ethernet, wireless,or a dial-up connection, which may access the network 14 (Internet)through a LAN or WAN.

A digital image 20 accessible by the computing device 12 is shown havingassociated image metadata 21 that describes and/or categorizes the image20. The Exchangeable Image File Format for Digital Still Camera (EXIF)is an example of an international digital still camera image file formatstandard that supports attachment of tags to image files. The images 20may be stored as any file type including jpeg, tiff, or bmp, but may butalso include video clips, and audio. The images 20 may be captured bythe computing device 12 or may be input from a variety of sources (notshown), such as a digital camera, CD, DVD, or a scanner, for instance.The image 20 may be stored on a storage device (not shown), such as ahard drive, CDR, DVDR, or an imaging device attached to the computingdevice 12.

An image application 26 capable of opening and displaying image data,such as an image viewer, a web browser, an instant messenger (IM)application, an operating system (OS), or other graphical userinterface, opens and displays the image 20 on the visual display 24. Thepresence application 30, which may comprise an IM application, an emailapplication, or other software application that utilizes presenceinformation, accesses the presence service 16. The presence service 16accepts information, stores presence information 34, and distributes thepresence information 34 to requesting services, including the presenceapplication 30.

According to the preferred embodiment, the computing device 12 isfurther provided with an image presence component 28, which inconjunction with the image application 26 and the presence application30, uses the identifier 22 to associate presence information 34 with theidentified object and to make the presence information available to auser, as explained below.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for associating presenceinformation with a digital image 20 in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention. Referring to both FIGS. 1 and 2,the process begins in step 50 by allowing an identifier 22 associatedwith at least one of the objects depicted in the image 20 to be storedas image metadata 21. In a preferred embodiment, the identifier 22 is ameans of indicating a point of contact, intended for public use such ason a business card. Names, telephone numbers, email addresses, postageaddress, and typical home page URLs are all examples of identifiers.However, in an alternative embodiment, in some business contexts, theidentifier 22 may include information that is not intended for thepublic, such as employee and account numbers.

Although only one identifier 22 is shown, the image 20 may includemultiple identifiers 22 that are associated with multiple objectsdepicted in the image 20 or multiple portions of the image may beassociated with different identifier 22. As stated above, the metadata21 may be part of the image file 20, or stored separately from the image20 file.

In one embodiment, the user may populate the metadata 21 with theidentifier 22 using either the image applications 26 or the imagepresence component 28. In an alternative embodiment where the computingdevice 12 is a PC, the metadata 21 may be populated with the identifier22 on an image capture device, such as a digital camera, capable ofrunning the appropriate software.

In one embodiment, the identifier 22 may be associated with a particularobject depicted in the image 20 using the method disclosed in co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/884,395 entitled “Method and Systemfor More Precisely Linking Metadata and Digital Images,” (3204P/1249)filed on Jul. 2, 2004, which is assigned to the assignee of the presentapplication and herein incorporated by reference. In this method, theuser selects a portion of the image 20 containing the object to whichthe user wishes to associate an identifier 20 using an application, suchas the image application 26. In one embodiment, the user selects agraphical element and positions the graphical element over the object orobjects with which the identifier 22 is to be associated. For example,rectangles, ovals, circles, or other forms may be provided as presetshapes, or the user may simply draw a box or rectangle around the objectusing the cursor. After selecting the object, the user enters theidentifier 22. Although the identifier 22 may be typically entered astext, the identifier 22 may be provided in audio format. After theidentifier 22 is entered, and identifier 22 is saved in the metadata 21in association with the selected object. In one embodiment, theidentifier 22 is stored with particular x-coordinates and y-coordinatesof the object selected. For example, if a rectangular graphical elementis selected, sized, and positioned around the object(s), then theidentifier 22 is stored in the metadata 21 with the x-coordinates andy-coordinates of the rectangular graphical element. Using this method,the identifier 22 can be associated with a selected object in the image20, rather than only with the entire image. Repeating this process, theuser can easily identify multiple objects in the image 20.

In one embodiment, the identifier 22 for multiple objects in the image20 may be stored in a single metadata tag. In another embodiment, theidentifier 22 for multiple objects in image 20 may be stored in separatemetadata tags. In a preferred embodiment, the x, y coordinates arestored in a separate metadata tag from the identifier 22. In analternative embodiment, however, the x, y coordinates may be stored inthe same metadata tag as the identifier 22.

After the image 20 and the identifier 22 are made available, in step 52,the identifier 22 is used to associate presence information with theobject. As is well-known in the art, presence is a medium ofcommunications over a network that is a means for finding, retrieving,and subscribing to changes in the presence information (e.g., “online”or “offline”) of other principals (i.e., real-world objects such aspeople or programs) where each of these principals users has presenceinformation associated with them. A principal is indirectly associatedwith a presence uniform resource identifier (URI) or uniform resourcelocator (URL) via the principal's presentity. A presentity (not shown)is the entity that supplies the presence information of the principal tothe presence service 16.

As described in A Model for Presence and Instant Messaging (RFC 2778)and Instant Messaging/Presence Protocol Requirements (RFC 2779)published by the IMPP WG, the format of the presence information mayinclude an arbitrary number of elements, called presence tuples. Eachpresence tuple includes a status that conveys status information (suchas online, offline, busy, away, do not disturb) of a particularprincipal/presentity (e.g., user), an optional communication address,and optional other presence markup. A communication address includes acontact means and a contact address. One type of contact means isinstant message service, where the corresponding contact address is aninstant inbox address. However, a contact means may also indicate one ormore of the following: some form of telephony, for example, with acorresponding contact address containing a telephone number; emailcommunications with a corresponding contact address containing an emailaddress; or a physical mail service with a corresponding contact addresscontaining a postal address. Thus, broadly speaking, the presenceinformation includes general contact information for the principal, suchas name, telephone number, email address, postal address, and IPaddresses or URLs associated with the object, and the like.

As used herein, the definition of presence information 34 is expandedsuch that presence information 34 may be associated with inanimateobjects in addition to people, and the presence information 34associated with the object may also include general contact informationfor the object in addition to, or in lieu of, the presence informationas defined in RFC 2778 and RFC 2779. That is, if the presenceinformation 34 associated with an object does not include a status, thenthe presence information 34 provided may be just general contactinformation.

In a preferred embodiment, the identifier 22 is used to associatepresence information 34 with the identified object when thecorresponding image 20 is accessed as follows. Referring to FIG. 1, whenthe image 20 is accessed for display, for example by the imageapplication 26, the image application 26 sends the image data to thevisual display 24 via a line 70 and passes the metadata 21 to the imagepresence component 28 via line 72. The image presence component 28parses the metadata 21, and extracts any identifier 22 found. The imagepresence component 28 then determines whether the identifier 22 is atype sufficient to directly obtain the presence information associatedwith the identified object (e.g., a presence URL). In addition, theimage presence component 28 examines the computing device configurationand determines the most appropriate method to obtain presenceinformation associated with the object based on the computing deviceconfiguration and the type of identifier 22.

If the identifier 22 is a type sufficient to directly obtain thepresence information associated with the identified object (e.g., is apresence URL), then the identifier 22 is used to associate the presenceinformation 34 with the identified object according to two embodiments.In one embodiment, the image presence component 28 sends the identifier22 to the presence application 30 via line 74, and the presenceapplication 30 uses the identifier 22 to subscribe to the presenceservice 16 via line 76 to obtain the presence information 34 via line78. In this embodiment, the presence information 34 may include presencestatus and/or contact information, as explained above.

In a second embodiment, the image presence component 28 uses theidentifier 22 to retrieve the presence information 34 associated withthe identifier 22 found in an entry in a local presence roster list,such as an IM buddy list 36. In this embodiment, the presenceinformation 34 returned from the presence roster list 36 could be thepresence status of the object (e.g., “online”). Alternatively, thepresence application 30 may query the presence roster list 36 with theidentifier 22 to obtain the presence information 34, such as the status.In an alternative embodiment, the presence application 30 retrieves thepresence information 34 from the presence roster list 36.

If the identifier 22 is not a type sufficient to directly obtain thepresence information associated with the identified object (e.g., is nota presence URL), then the identifier 22 is used as an index to obtainthe presence URL via a look-up or mapping operation, and the presenceURL is then used to obtain the presence information 34, as explainedabove. For example, if the identifier 22 is a telephone number or name,then the telephone number or name can be mapped to an email address,which is a sufficient type of presence URL to obtain the presenceinformation 34. Likewise, if the identifier 22 is an address, then theaddress can be used to obtain a name or telephone number, which can thenbe used to obtain the presence URL. Prior to performing the lookup ormapping operation, the identifier 22 can be validated to ensure that theformat of the data is correct. For example, if the image presencecomponent 28 determines that the identifier 22 is a telephone number,then the presence component 28 can validate that the telephone numberhas a valid prefix area code and/or the requisite number of digits.

Referring again to 2, after the presence application 30 receives thepresence information 34 from the presence service, in step 54, an actionrelated to the object is performed using the associated presenceinformation 34. In a preferred embodiment, the action performed includesdisplaying the presence information 34 with the image 20, printing thepresence information 34 with the image 20, or playing an audioreproduction of the content of the presence information 34 while theimage 20 is viewed.

According to the preferred embodiment, by providing the presenceinformation 34 to a viewer in conjunction with the image 20, the vieweris thereby informed who or what is depicted in the image 20 and whetheror not the object(s) in the image are available for communication. Ifthe presence information 34 includes status, then the viewer is informedwhether the identified object is available for real-time communication.

In a preferred embodiment, means for using the identifier 22 toassociate presence information 34 with the least one object and forperforming an action related to the object using the presenceinformation 34 includes a combination of the image application 26, theimage presence component 28, the presence application 30, and thepresence service 16, although the presence application 30 can beeliminated by implementing the presence component functionality in theimage presence component 20 itself.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in a preferred embodiment, the presenceinformation 34 is displayed as follows. The presence application 30passes the presence information 24 to the image presence component 28via line 80, the presence component 28 passes the presence information34 to the image application 26 via line 82, and the image application 26displays the presence information 34 via line 86. In an alternativeembodiment, the image presence component 28 is used to provide thepresence information 34 to the visual display 24 so that all thepresence information 34 appears in the same format, regardless ofwhichever image application 26 is used.

The presence information 34 may be displayed in a variety of ways. Inone embodiment, the presence information 34 may be displayed next to theimage 20. In another embodiment, the presence information 34 may bedisplayed in a window separate from the image 20. Also, the presenceinformation 34 from several presence IDs in one or more images 20 may bedisplayed as a group.

In a preferred embodiment, the presence information 34 is displayedover, or points to, a specific location in the image indicated by the x,y coordinates associated with the identifier 22, as illustrated in FIG.3. FIG. 3 shows an image 20 with multiple identified objects, eachhaving associated presence information 34 where the presence information34 for each object is clearly indicated. Note, some of the objects mayinclude a status, while others may not, in which case only contactinformation would be shown.

In another embodiment, the presence information 34 may be converted toHTML so that when a user moves a cursor or pointer over the region ofthe image 20 encompassed by the x, y coordinates, the presenceinformation 34 is made available. For example, if the presenceinformation 34 is text or sound, the presence information 34 may bedisplayed or heard, respectively, when the user passes a cursor orpointer over the portion of the image containing the identified object.In this embodiment, the user is allowed to manually access the presenceinformation 34.

In a further embodiment, the action performed related to the objectusing the associated presence information 34 includes opening acommunication channel via the communication address associated with theobject. After the presence information is displayed, the user canmanually contact the identified object by bringing up a communicationmethod of choice, such as instant messenger, using any contact addressesdisplayed. Or the image presence component can be configured toautomatically start a default communication method using communicationmeans included in the computing device 12, such as invoking the instantmessenger application when a user clicks on the presence status andopening a communication channel to the identified object using thenetwork interface 32. In another embodiment, a viewer may click on thedisplayed presence information 34, which in turn, brings up a menushowing the connection options, such as email, chat, or phone.

In a further embodiment, the computing device may upload the image 20 tothe photosharing site 18 for sharing the image 20 with others. Whenphotosharing site 18 receives requests to view the image 20, thephotosharing site 18 may then use its own or an external image presencecomponent 28 to extract the identifier 22 from the metadata 21, and usethe identifier 22 to obtain the presence information 34, as explainedabove. Once connected to the network 14, the computing device 12 has thecapability of accessing images 20 hosted on the photosharing site 18 forviewing, in which case the photosharing site 16 would display thepresence information 34 along with the image 20.

Several user scenarios are provided below to further illustrateoperation and advantages of the system 10 for associating presenceinformation 34 with digital images 20.

Scenario 1

Sally is looking at digital images on her PC. She clicks on an image ofher sister Kate, which includes Kate's email address as the identifier22. The image application 26 extracts the email address i.e.kate@hotmail.com (or presence URL, see Jabber specs i.e.jabber.//kate@hotmail.com/MSN) of Kate from the image metadata 21 andconnects to the presence service 16 (via the presence component 28 andpresence application 30) to check Kate's presence status. The presenceservice 16 returns presence information 34 indicating that Kate is“Available” and can be contacted by chat or email. The image application26 displays a green icon on top of Kate's image to show that she is“Available”. Sally sees that Kate is available and clicks on the greenicon, which brings up a menu showing the connection options of email orchat. Sally selects chat, so the image application 26 starts the defaultchat application on the PC and instructs it to start a new chat sessionusing Kate's email address as the person to contact. Sally and Kate thenchat.

Scenario 2

Eric is looking at an image of his family on his mobile phone. Eachfamily member has a telephone number identifier 22 associated with them.The image contains metadata 21 that describes for each telephone numberthe location on the image that the person appears. Eric presses a“Determine Status” key on his phone. In response, the phone's imageapplication 26 extracts the telephone numbers from the image metadata 21and adds them as contacts to the phones presence component 28. The imageapplication 26 requests the presence for all the telephone numbers inthe image from the presence component 28. When the presence component 28receives the presence information 34, the presence component 28 passesthe presence information to the image application 26, which combines thelocation information with the presence information 34 to displaypresence status over the image. So for those who are available the word“Available” appears over their image.

Scenario 3

Michael is looking at digital images on his photosharing site 16. Thephotosharing site 18 reads the metadata 21 of all the images andextracts email addresses, telephone numbers, IP addresses and screennames. It uses a built-in presence service 18 to obtain the presence andlocation of all the contacts. The photosharing site 18 shows Michael allthe images in his album and a consolidated list of all the contacts withtheir presence and location. He sees that his friend John is “Available”and his location is “Vail, Colo., USA”. He also sees that the ski teammascot, Hugs the stuffed Bear, is “Busy” and is located in “Vail, Colo.,USA”. He decides to telephone John and ask him to take some more imagesof Hugs in action on the slopes.

Scenario 4

Jean is looking at an image of a friend. She selects the image andselects the “Determine Presence” option (Sally has configured the imageapplication 26 not to automatically determine presence). The imagepresence component 28 searches the image metadata 21 and finds theidentifier “John Brown of Raleigh, N.C., USA.” The image presencecomponent 28 then performs a search of a contact database on theInternet using John's name and location to retrieve John's emailaddress. The image presence component 28 then passes his email addressto the presence service 16. The presence service 16 finds a match fortwo presence URL's that are associated with the email address, one forJohn and one for John II, which are returned and displayed on Jean'sdevice. Jean picks the one for John, assuming that John II is his son,and the application retrieves the presence status for John if it was notalready returned with the presence URL's. The image application 26 orimage presence component 28 highlights the face of John on the imagewith a blue glow indicating that he is “Available” and updates theimage's metadata 21 with a presence tag set to “Available”.

Scenario 5

The ABC Company operates a heavy construction equipment rental and salesbusiness. The company website contains a catalogue of images depictingthe equipment that the company has available. Chuck is the employee incharge of the company website and decides to utilize a new technologywhich can include presence in relation to an image. Chuck wants tocombine this technology with the instant messenger addresses of thesales people and the equipment images on the company website. The salespeople are specialized in handling the rental and sale of various typesof equipment. Bob Smith handles all transactions dealing with bulldozers and Jane Doe is responsible for all excavators. Chuck's intentionis to allow customers who visit ABC's website to click on an image andbe connected to the sales person via an instant messenger chat. Nowcustomers can be in direct communication with a sales person who canbest answer questions in relation to the image that they clicked on.

The company has just purchased a JCD MX42 bull dozer, so Chuck takes adigital image of it and loads it into an image editor. In the editor heuses the image metadata editor to create a tag called “Sales PresenceId” and assigns it the presence URL of Bob Smith(jabber://bob.smith@abc.com/IM) the dozer sales contact. Chuck uploadsthe image to the company website.

Jake is a customer looking for the new JCD MX42 bull dozer, so he checksthe ABC website. Finding the JCD MX42 bull dozer he clicks on the image.His web browser searches all the image metadata 21 looking for apresence URL, it finds one for Bob Smith. The browser makes a request tothe ABC presence server for Bob Smith's presence information 34. Thepresence server returns his status as “Available”, so the browserdisplays a green icon on the image of the JCD MX42 bull dozer. Jake hasa question about the new dozer, so he clicks on the green icon and thebrowser uses the presence URL to start a chat session between Jake andBob Smith. Jake sends a message asking if the new dozer has GPS. BobSmith replies that it has GPS, so Jake places a rental order.

A method and system for associating presence information with a digitalimage has been disclosed. The present invention has been described inaccordance with the embodiments shown, and one of ordinary skill in theart will readily recognize that there could be variations to theembodiments, and any variations would be within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. For example, the viewer may be required to beauthenticated for obtaining presence information (e.g., by entering ausername and password). Accordingly, many modifications may be made byone of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A computer-implemented method for associating presence informationwith a digital image, comprising: allowing an identifier associated withat least one object depicted in the image to be stored as imagemetadata; using the identifier to associate presence information withthe at least one object; and performing an action related to the objectusing the associated presence information.
 2. The method of claim 1further including: using a plurality of identifiers for associatingrespective presence information with corresponding multiple objectsdepicted in the image.
 3. The method of claim 1 further including: afterthe presence information is associated with the least one object,uploading the image and the associated presence information to a serveron a network.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein performing an actionincludes at least one of displaying the presence information associatedwith the object in response to a request to view the image, printing thepresence information with the image, and playing an audio reproductionof the content of the presence information while the image is viewed. 5.The method of claim 4 further including: displaying the presenceinformation in a location including one of next to the image, over alocation of the object in the image, and in a separate window.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the presence information displayed includes astatus associated with the at least one object.
 7. The method of claim 1further including: providing the presence information with at least oneof a status that conveys status information and a communication address.8. The method of claim 7 wherein the communication address specifies atleast one contact means and corresponding at least one contact addressassociated with the object.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein performingan action includes automatically opening a communication channel via thecommunication address associated with the object.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein using the identifier to associate presence informationwith the at least one object includes using the identifier to subscribeto the presence information associated with the object via a presenceservice.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein using the identifier toassociate presence information with the at least one object includesusing the identifier to retrieve presence information associated with anentry included a local roster list, the entry corresponding to theidentifier of the object.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein using theidentifier to associate presence information with the at least oneobject includes using the identifier as an index to obtain a presenceURL via one of a look-up and mapping operation if the identifier is notof a type sufficient to directly obtain the presence information, andthen using the presence URL to obtain the presence information.
 13. Acomputer-readable medium containing program instructions for associatingpresence information with a digital image, the instructions for:allowing an identifier associated with at least one object depicted inthe image to be stored as image metadata; using the identifier toassociate presence information with the at least one object; andperforming an action related to the object using the associated presenceinformation.
 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 furtherincluding program instructions for: using a plurality of identifiers forassociating respective presence information with corresponding multipleobjects depicted in the image.
 15. The computer-readable medium of claim13 further including program instructions for: after the presenceinformation is associated with the least one object, uploading the imageand the associated presence information to a server on a network. 16.The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein performing an actionincludes at least one of displaying the presence information associatedwith the object in response to a request to view the image, printing thepresence information with the image, and playing an audio reproductionof the content of the presence information while the image is viewed.17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 further including programinstructions for: displaying the presence information in a locationincluding one of next to the image, over a location of the object in theimage, and in a separate window.
 18. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the presence information displayed includes a statusassociated with the at least one object.
 19. The computer-readablemedium of claim 13 further including program instructions for: providingthe presence information with at least one of a status that conveystatus information and a communication address.
 20. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 19 wherein the communication addressspecifies at least one contact means and corresponding at least onecontact address associated with the object.
 21. The computer-readablemedium of claim 19 wherein performing an action includes automaticallyopening a communication channel via the communication address associatedwith the object.
 22. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, whereinusing the identifier to associate presence information with the at leastone object includes using the identifier to subscribe to the presenceinformation associated with the object via a presence service.
 23. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein using the identifier toassociate presence information with the at least one object includesusing the identifier to retrieve presence information associated with anentry included a local roster list, the entry corresponding to theidentifier of the object.
 24. The computer-readable medium of claim 13wherein using the identifier to associate presence information with theat least one object includes using the identifier as an index to obtaina presence URL via one of a look-up or mapping operation if theidentifier is not of a type sufficient to directly obtain the presenceinformation, and then using the presence URL to obtain the presenceinformation.
 25. An image system, comprising: at least one digital imagehaving an identifier associated with at least one object depicted in theimage, wherein the identifier is stored as image metadata; and imagepresence means for using the identifier to associate presenceinformation with the at least one object, and for performing an actionrelated to the object using the associated presence information.
 26. Thesystem of claim 25 wherein an image application allows a user toassociate the identifier with the object by, allowing the user to selecta graphical element and position the graphical element over a portion ofthe image containing the object to which the user wishes to associatethe identifier, and allowing the user to enter the identifier, whereinthe identifier is saved in the image metadata along with x-coordinatesand y-coordinates of the object selected.
 27. The system of claim 25wherein the image presence means includes any combination of the imageapplication, an image presence component, and a presence application.28. The system of claim 27 wherein the image presence component and thepresence application are implemented as one component.
 29. The system ofclaim 27 wherein when the image application accesses the image fordisplay, the image application sends the image data to a display deviceand passes the metadata to the image presence component.
 30. The systemof claim 29 wherein the image presence component determines whether theidentifier is a type sufficient to directly obtain the presenceinformation associated with the identified object.
 31. The system ofclaim 30 wherein if the identifier is a type sufficient to directlyobtain the presence information associated with the identified object,then the image presence component sends the identifier to the presenceapplication, and the presence application uses the identifier tosubscribe to a presence service to obtain the presence information. 32.The system of claim 30 wherein if the identifier is a type sufficient todirectly obtain the presence information associated with the identifiedobject, then the image presence component uses the identifier toretrieve the presence information associated an entry corresponding tothe identifier found in a local presence roster list.
 33. The system ofclaim 30 wherein if the identifier is not a type sufficient to directlyobtain the presence information associated with the identified object,then the identifier is used as an index to obtain a presence URL via alook-up or mapping operation, and the presence URL is then used toobtain the presence information.
 34. The system of claim 33 whereinprior to performing the lookup or mapping operation, the identifier isvalidated to ensure that the format of the data is correct.
 35. Thesystem of claim 25 wherein the action performed related to the objectincludes at least one of displaying the presence information associatedwith the object in response to a request to view the image, printing thepresence information with the image, and playing an audio reproductionof the content of the presence information while the image is viewed.36. The system of claim 35 wherein the presence information is displayedin a location including one of next to the image, over a location of theobject in the image, and in a separate window.
 37. The system of claim35 wherein the presence information displayed includes a statusassociated with the at least one object.
 38. The system of claim 25comprising communication means, wherein performing an action includesusing a communication address included in the presence informationassociated with the object to automatically open a communication channelvia the communication means.
 39. The system of claim 25 wherein thecommunication address specifies at least one contact means andcorresponding at least one contact address associated with the object.